National Offices

Stationed in Corvallis, Oregon, Mike splits his time between national coordination of ARMI and serving as the Principal Investigator for the Pacific Northwest region of ARMI. He received his PhD from University of Washington and has been working on amphibian conservation issues since 1990. Mike was an active participant in the development of ARMI.

David Green, veterinary pathologist for ARMI, is located at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI. The Health Center is staffed by scientists and veterinary medical officers who conduct research on wildlife diseases and perform diagnostic examination of animals found at mortality events. David received his DVM at Colorado State University, had a residency in veterinary pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (Washington, D.C.) and has been a veterinary pathologist for State and Federal agencies.
As the ARMI pathologist, he conducts pathological investigations of mass mortalities in amphibian populations, researches diseases such as chytrid fungus, ranavirus and newly emerging diseases that are yet unnamed, and monitors the status and trends of amphibian diseases nationwide.

Kelly Smalling (MSPH, University of South Carolina) is a research hydrologist at the US Geological Survey’s New Jersey Water Science Center focusing on the occurrence, fate and effects of contaminants in the environment. She coordinates ARMI activities related to the impacts of contaminants on amphibian populations. The goal of the contaminants project is to coordinate research efforts at the regional level that assess the impacts of contaminants in combination with other stressors including disease, climate change, etc. on amphibian habitat quality which may contribute to population declines. Research is focused on the occurrence and accumulation of pesticides and other endocrine active compounds in National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges and other critical amphibian habitats throughout the Nation.

Pacific Northwest

Chauncey Anderson is a hydrologist for the U. S. Geological Survey's Oregon Water Science Center. Chauncey has worked for the USGS since 1991, focusing on water quality and ecosystem-oriented studies. He joined the ARMI program in 2000 as Hydrologic Coordinator for ARMI's Pacific Northwest Region. As such, Chauncey works to provide water quality and other hydrologic support to the ARMI program in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. Since 2004, he has worked on issues associate with chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd); specifically, its occurrence in the environment, including detection in water and efforts to better understand its life history cycle outside of amphibian hosts. Chauncey is supporting a Ph. D. candidate from Portland State University, Tara Chestnut, who is working to better quantify sampling and environmental variability for Bd, and apply this work to questions of disease movement in northern latitudes as a result of climate change. Chauncey has also extensively studied nutrient and algal interactions, the role of land management in receiving water quality, contaminants in water, sediment, and biota, and has recently been involved in studies of water quality associated with dam removal as an ecosystem restoration strategy. For additional information, please see http://or.water.usgs.gov/staff/C_Anderson/.

Stationed in Corvallis, Oregon, Mike splits his time between national coordination of ARMI and serving as the Principal Investigator for the Pacific Northwest region of ARMI. He received his PhD from University of Washington and has been working on amphibian conservation issues since 1990. Mike was an active participant in the development of ARMI.

Southwest

Brian Halstead (Ph.D., University of South Florida) coordinates ARMI activities in northern and central California from the Dixon and Point Reyes field stations. Much monitoring and research in the region is conducted in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which was among the first locations where North American
amphibian declines unrelated to habitat alteration were documented. Quantifying landscape-scale trends
in the probability of occurrence of anurans throughout Yosemite National Park is one of our primary
monitoring projects. Detailed demographic study of a population of Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs
(Rana sierrae) to elucidate trends in abundance and quantify the vital rates responsible for these trends
is another core component of monitoring in the region. Additional detailed demographic study occurs
at Point Reyes National Seashore, where trends in abundance of California red-legged frogs (Rana
draytonii) are carefully monitored. Current research in the region focuses on deciphering the effects of
environmental contaminants and biotic interactions (disease and other species) on amphibian vital rates.
Together, these research and monitoring efforts provide essential information to ensure that children of
all ages will continue to enjoy the thrill of discovering a pool full of tadpoles in a mountain meadow or the
acrobatic escape of a frog to the safety of a northern California stream for generations to come.

Amphibian monitoring and research, through the ARMI program, is an integral part of the USGS San Diego Field Station’s mission. Principal Investigator, Robert Fisher’s (PhD UC Davis) research focuses on conducting inventory, monitoring, population estimates, restoration, and species recovery. Our geographic area of research extends from the California–Mexico border north through Ventura and San Bernardino Counties to Inyo County at the north end. Our studies occur in a diverse variety of habitats including coastal salt marshes, coastal sage scrub, inland chaparral, oak and riparian woodlands, high elevation coniferous forests, and deserts. We partner with many public agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private entities. The goal is to provide data that our partners can use to guide management activities. Several on-going studies involve sensitive, threatened, and endangered amphibian species including the federally listed arroyo toad (Anaxyrus californicus), mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana muscosa), and the California red-legged frog (Rana draytonii).

ARMI activities in the desert southwest are conducted through the Sonoran Desert Research Station located on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. Collaborators include Federal Wildlife Refuges, National Parks, and State entities such as the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Erin Muths and Blake Hossack (see the Rocky Mountain Region) are the Principle investigators for the SW Region. Key to the ARMI effort in the SW is Brent Sigafus who has worked with ARMI in Arizona since 2000. Brent has extensive on-the-ground experience in field work and in collaboration with private and agency entities, and provides the contact point and the logistical coordination for SW ARMI in Arizona. ARMI research in Arizona includes demography of endangered native frogs, landscape-scale assessments of frog immigration, control and elimination of invasive species (bullfrogs) and disease.

Rocky Mountains

William Battaglin, Research Hydrologist, at the U.S. Geological Survey Colorado Water Science Center. Bill first worked for the U.S.G.S. in 1982. He has helped design and conduct studies investigating the occurrence of pesticides and other contaminants in streams, reservoirs, groundwater, rain, and the air. He is currently working on investigations of the occurrence of glyphosate in Midwestern streams, fungicides in potato growing regions, the effects of pesticides on amphibian populations in North America, the fate of emerging contaminants in Colorado surface- and groundwater, and the potential effects of climate change on Colorado snowpack.

The USGS Colorado Water Science Center conducts water-resources related activities in the Rocky Mountain Region in formal partnerships with more than 100 organizations from all levels of government. The Center operates statewide data-collection networks, and conducts research on a wide range of issue that are of concern to Colorado's water-management entities and citizens.

ARMI activities in the southern Rocky Mountains are conducted through the Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) and partners, including Rocky Mountain National Park and faculty and graduate students at Colorado State University. FORT is located on the Natural Resources Research Campus (NRRC) at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. The NRRC is a partnership of six federal agencies and CSU and was established to support and enhance cooperative research on natural resource issues. Erin Muths is the principal investigator for the southern portion of the Rocky Mountain Region. Erin received her PhD from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. She has been working on amphibians and amphibian decline since 1995 and has been involved in ARMI since its inception. ARMI research in the southern Rocky Mountains is focused primarily on assessing population-level effects of disease and global climate change on amphibians.

Blake Hossack (PhD, University of Montana) coordinates ARMI activities in the Northern Rockies and Desert Southwest (with Erin Muths) from the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute in Missoula, Montana. Monitoring and research are conducted at several locations, including the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem (Montana), Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Wyoming), and Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (Arizona). We also monitor amphibians acoustically at several locations in the Northern Rockies and Northern Plains and recently helped established a citizen science-based program to monitor vertebrates in arctic and sub-arctic wetlands. Partners include the National Park Service’s Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network, Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, Churchill Northern Studies Centre, and faculty and graduate students at the University of Montana, University of Arizona, and Southeastern Missouri State University. Our research is currently focused on measuring population and community responses to global change, energy development, invasive species, and wetland mitigation and management.

Midwest

ARMI staff and key collaborators in the Midwest region include Walt Sadinski (Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center [UMESC]; research ecologist and principal investigator; Ph.D., Penn State University), Mark Roth (UMESC; biologist; MS, University of Arkansas, Monticello), Perry Jones (Minnesota Water Science Center; hydrologist; MS University of Minnesota), and Alisa Gallant (Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, ecogeographer; Ph.D., Colorado State University). We are assessing the statuses of regional amphibian populations relative to drivers of global change, primarily land use, climate change, and emergent disease, on Department of Interior and other lands in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. We also are leveraging these efforts with those of a wide range of partners in several additional states (including Alaska) and Canadian provinces to collect and analyze data across a network of research sites. By using standardized protocols with our partners, results from our work are intended to provide information necessary to assess and help conserve amphibian populations at local and broader scales along North American environmental gradients.

South Central

Hardin Waddle (PhD University of Florida) coordinates ARMI activities in the south-central ARMI region from the National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) in Lafayette, LA. The mission of the NWRC is to develop and disseminate scientific information needed for understanding the ecology and values of our Nation's wetlands and for managing and restoring wetland habitats and associated plant and animal communities. Dr. Waddle’s particular interests include population ecology and conservation of amphibians and reptiles. The focus of south-central ARMI research involves using occupancy analysis to detect trends in anuran populations. Since 2002, south-central ARMI has been monitoring anuran populations in the Atchafalaya Basin of south-central Louisiana, with similar monitoring now being conducted at Coldwater River National Wildlife Refuge in north Mississippi and Big Thicket National Preserve in east Texas. In addition, a population ecology study commenced in Fall 2010 on ambystomatid salamander populations in Kisatchie National Forest in north central Louisiana. Data garnered from these studies will assist land managers to make more informed decisions regarding resource management.

Dr. Evan H. Campbell Grant (PhD University of Maryland) coordinates ARMI activities in the Northeast by conducting and developing amphibian research and monitoring projects. Information from surveys in the Northeast are used to determine the proportion of surveyed areas that are occupied by various species of amphibians, and to estimate amphibian survival, dispersal, and population sizes and trends over space and time. This information is used to inform management of National Park and Wildlife Refuge Resources in the northeast.

Southeast

Biology-based ARMI activities in the southeast are coordinated by Dr. Susan Walls at the Southeast Ecological Science Center (SESC). Susan received a PhD from the University of Louisiana (Lafayette) and has conducted ecological studies of amphibians for nearly 30 years. Current research of southeast ARMI includes monitoring anuran response to hydrologic restoration of the Big Cypress regional ecosystem, discriminating the effects of climate and hydrology on winter-breeding amphibians of St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, determining the salinity tolerance of regional anurans, and documenting the spatial and temporal distribution of amphibian pathogens. ARMI research in the southeast is focused primarily on assessing the effects of global climate change and disease on amphibians.

Dan Calhoun, a hydrologist at the USGS Georgia Water Science Center (GWSC), provides support for hydrology and water-quality aspects of ARMI for the Southeast Region. Key personnel in the GWSC involved in ARMI studies are Brian Hughes (MS Geology; Southern Illinois University), Jeff Riley (MS Hydrology; University of Georgia), Anna McKee (PhD Population Genetics; University of Georgia), Alan Cressler and Chris Walls. Primary science support for the ARMI program comes in the form of hydrologic assessments, water chemistry, spatial analysis, environmental genetics, amphibian sampling, and pathogen detection. The GWSC has been associated with ARMI soon after its formation and continually seeks program development to expand its ability to meet the needs of federal, state, and local partners to further the goals of amphibian conservation and research.

Dan has worked across many fields of study in the physical and ecological sciences including erosion and sedimentation, contaminant fate and transport, surface and groundwater water quality sampling and analysis, wetland and karst hydrology, ecological community sampling and analysis, and the occurrence of aquatic pathogens. He finds the most professional satisfaction in the integration of people with diverse expertise.

Emeritus

The National Coordinator, Lianne Ball (PhD University of Nevada, Reno), is stationed at the USGS Headquarters in Reston, VA. Her research interests are in adaptive management, energetics, and desert ecology. She has conducted research and worked on the development and implementation of programs to monitor wildlife populations since 2000. In addition to administering the Program, she works with the Principal Investigators to identify emerging research areas and serves as the liaison for ARMI to other Federal Agencies and the States.

Gary Fellers coordinates ARMI activities in northern and central California from the Point Reyes Field Station located at Point Reyes National Seashore. Research and monitoring is being conducted throughout the region, with an emphasis on Point Reyes and Yosemite NP, where research is done in cooperation with the National Park Service. Research is examining the causes of amphibian declines, with a special emphasis on the role of pesticides and chytrid fungus. Intensive, site-specific studies with California red-legged frogs and Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs are designed to assess population size and trends, as well as frog movements, growth, and longevity. The research program has an international flavor with active cooperators in both Taiwan and China. This work is led by Gary Fellers (Ph.D. University of Maryland) who has been conducting research on declining amphibians since 1991, and was the catalyst for the design and implementation of the ARMI program.

Cecil Schwalbe

Amphibian research and monitoring has been an important part of the mission of the Sonoran Desert Research Station since 1993. Principal Investigator Cecil Schwalbe's (PhD University of Arizona) research includes monitoring, population estimates, ecology and control of invasive species, disease, and conservation of vulnerable species, focusing primarily in Arizona, but extending to adjacent states. Research funded and facilitated by ARMI has ushered in a ground swell of cooperative research and management efforts to conserve native amphibians in Arizona, focusing on control and elimination of invasive American bullfrogs on a landscape scale through cooperation with federal and state agencies, universities, non-governmental organizations, and privateranchers. Ranchers throughout the range of the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog have sought technical advice on similar efforts.

Ken Dodd Jr.

Ken received his PhD in 1974 from Clemson University where he worked on Neotropical salamander anti-predator behavior. Prior to joining ARMI, he was an Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University, Staff Herpetologist at the Office of Endangered Species, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and a Research Zoologist at the Florida Integrated Science Center of USGS. Until he retired in 2007, Ken was the PI for ARMI in the Southeastern United States. In this capacity, he conducted research and supervised I&M projects in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and at 5 National Wildlife Refuges (St. Marks, Lower Suwannee, Okefenokee, Harris Neck, Savannah). He also conducted research on box turtles and many imperiled species, including the Amargosa Toad, Red Hills Salamander, and Striped Newt. Ken currently is Courtesy Associate Professor in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida. His books include The Amphibians of Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Univ. Tennessee Press, 2004); Amphibian Ecology and Conservation, A Handbook of Techniques (Oxford University Press, 2009); Frogs of the United States and Canada (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). Research interests include conservation biology, population ecology and demography, monitoring vertebrate populations, sampling, amphibian ecology, and the history of herpetology.

ARMI activities in the northern Rocky Mountains are conducted through the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute in Missoula, Montana. Partners include the National Park Service Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network, US Fish and Wildlife Fish Technology Center, and faculty and graduate students at Idaho State University and the University of Montana. Steve Corn is the principal investigator for the northern portion of the Rocky Mountain Region. He received his PhD from Colorado State University, and has been working on amphibian decline issues since 1986. Steve was an active participant in the development of ARMI. Blake Hossack coordinates field activities and has worked at the Leopold Institute since 1999. ARMI research in the northern Rocky Mountains is focused primarily on measuring population-levels effects of global change, disease, forest management, and wildfire.